The One Group orders a double: Katsuya and Cleo at SLS Las Vegas

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, July 9, 2015 | 10:30 p.m.

It’s fitting that Jonathan Segal heads up a company with “one” in its title given that he is a comparatively confident individual.

It was announced Tuesday that the One Group, for which Segal performs as CEO, has purchased the restaurants Katsuya and Cleo from SBE Entertainment. As an ownership partner in SLS Las Vegas (along with majority partner Stockbridge Real Estate), SBE has operated that chic paring of eateries that sit side-by-side at SLS.

The One Group also owns STK at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Segal trumpets the symmetry of the newly purchased restaurants with STK, a happy mix of a nightclub and stylish steakhouse.

“Katsuya is to sushi what STK is to steak,” Segal said today during a phone conversation. “Cleo is to Mediterranean food what STK is to steak, too. They are cool, sexy, trendy, fresh. They are very synergistic to what we like to do.

A quirk of this transaction is that the One Group will not be managing the Las Vegas restaurants. The business partnership at SLS Las Vegas is this: The One Group is paid a licensing fee by SBE, but Katsuya and Cleo at SLS Las Vegas will continue to be managed by SBE.

“The management of the restaurants is so closely interwound with the operation of the hotel that it would be too complex to try to extract the management from them,” Segal said. "They pay for licensing, but otherwise we don't deal with them at all."

The One Group's purchase of all Katsuya and Cleo adds 12 restaurants to the company’s worldwide portfolio, including the two restaurants at SLS Las Vegas and also in SLS-managed properties in Miami and Los Angeles. With the charismatic Segal spearheading the company’s Las Vegas operations, the One Group has enjoyed unqualified success at STK, where it often tops $2 million in revenue per month in a venue that seats 220 for dinner. But the company had to end its partnerships at Tropicana and the Palms.

At the Trop, Bagatelle restaurant, nightclub and pool closed in July 2013 after just six months of operation in the space now called the Havana Room and operated by the hotel. At Palms, the partnership with that hotel in the Heraea restaurant/sports bar/nighclub and Xishi Japanese restaurant (which never did open) ended in September2013.

But Segal has always been undeterred.

“We’re creating the opportunity to expand our standalone restaurants and move our brand into markets where STK is already open,” he said, referring to the 10 STK restaurants open across the country (and four more planned in Orlando, Denver, New York and Chicago). “Everywhere we have an STK, we can put a Katsuya and Cleo. This gives us a real chance to grow.”

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